Canada: Okanagan Nation looks towards egg-citing salmon return

Published Oct 28, 2024

Tridge summary

The Okanagan Nation Alliance's broodstock program is expecting a record-breaking year, with over 3.5 million sockeye salmon eggs collected for 2024, up from the previous record of about 5.4 million. The eggs, along with natural spawns, will be taken to the ONA's hatchery in Penticton. The program has come a long way since the mid to late 1990s, when salmon population returns were only about 5,000. The first documented return of a chinook salmon to Okanagan Lake in 2024 is also noteworthy. However, the program faces setbacks as the Confederated Colville Tribes in the United States have decided to withdraw their collaboration.

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Original content

With over 3.5 million sockeye salmon eggs collected and between 300 to 400,000 being collected every day, 2024 is looking to be one of the best years yet for the Okanagan Nation Alliance's broodstock program. Black Press spoke with ONA fisheries biologist Ryan Benson on Oct. 24, and the estimated egg count had already gone up by close to a million from a social media post the ONA shared just the day before. "It's definitely a moving target," said Benson. "By the time you do a release, that number might be out of date even after a few hours." That kind of return is great news, with a goal of over five million eggs from salmon caught near Oliver and Osoyoos. The previous record was about 5.4 million. The collected eggs, which will go to the ONA's hatchery located on the Penticton Indian Band, are on top the natural spawns taking place up and down the valley and the greater Columbia River Basin. "We still don't know the final count of spawning population, but down in the COlumbia ...

Source: Thenorthernview